


Family Matters

by afteriwake



Series: Just Pieces On The Board [7]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Comfort No Hurt, Comforting Tony, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dying Peggy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Secrets, Gen, Goodbyes, Grandchildren, Grandmothers, Last Kiss, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, Minor Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Molly Hooper Needs a Hug, Mother-Son Relationship, Not Canon Compliant, Old Peggy Carter, POV Peggy Carter, Parent Death, Parent Peggy Carter, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Past Relationship(s), Peggy Has Secrets, Protective Steve Rogers, Relieved Peggy, Secrets, Sharon Carter Needs a Hug, Steve Makes A Promise, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Tony & Sharon & Molly Are Family, Tony Feels, Tony Knew, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 15:32:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15609402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Peggy has been keeping a secret for so long, and on her deathbed, she wishes to confess it to those who matter most. But unbeknownst to her, her family...allher family...already knew.





	Family Matters

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dreamin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamin/gifts), [WayTooEasilyObssessed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WayTooEasilyObssessed/gifts).



> So I've done a bit of rearranging of various fics and added two previously written fics to this series, but **Dreamin helped me sort out, like, a million ideas so I'm going to write a bunch of fics in this series for her for all her help. Here's the big secret that I told her about that was suggested by **WayTooEasilyObssessed** (though the actual prompt isn't given in this fic)!**

She knew she had to tell the four of them the truth, and the whole truth. Though Steve had not really been a part of the equation that the others were in, in the same way, she felt it was important he knew the truth as well. And she knew time was running out. This secret had been so well hidden that if she died...no, _when_ she died, there was no way around the fact the end of her time was near, _when_ she died, the secret would go to the grave with her. And the four people she loved most deserved to know the whole, entire truth.

Even if they hated her bitterly for it.

She turned to Steve and gave him a tired smile. Since it had been so very obvious her time was coming, he had rarely left her side. She knew that this was precious time away from his search for James, to stop him before he was a danger to himself or others and get him help for everything done to him, but to know he would be there for the last of it all, there was a peace to that. “Are they here?”

He nodded, bringing her knuckles up to his lips. “Yeah, Stark and Sharon and Molly are outside.”

“Bring them in,” she said. 

He nodded again and reluctantly let go of her hand, moving to the door and sticking his head out. After a moment the three of them came in, filing in solemnly. She could see Margaret had been crying, and Sharon looked as though she was barely holding the tears in. But they were close together, their hands clasping each other’s, and she was so thankful one of the last things she would ever see were he two grandchildren comforting each other, supporting each other.

Hopefully, they would support Tony as well. He would need it.

She saw his eyes were red-rimmed and she worried for a moment he had drifted back to old habits. He would need strength more than ever, and if her precious granddaughters and the man she’d loved more than anyone in the world would stand by his side, she knew he would be fine.

“I’ll leave you all alone,” Steve said, taking a step out the door as the others settled around her bedside.

“No, Steve. I need you to hear this too,” she said. He moved back to the spot where he had been, with Tony on the other side and the girls next to them. Steve took her hand again and she reached over and patted it for a moment before pulling away. “I have kept a secret, for many years. A secret I have...” She took a deep breath. “A secret I never wanted to keep and have regretted every moment.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Tony said, his voice calm but tinged with sadness.

“Anthony, it’s a secret that I fear will hurt you when the truth comes out,” she said.

Tony was quiet for a moment and then reached over and took her hand in his, imitating Steve’s earlier action. “You’re my biological mom, aren’t you?”

She knew surprise was on her face, just as much as it was the faces of the others around her. “How did you know?”

“A fight Dad and I had once. I’d stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind me, and was leaning against it when I heard him say my mother would be so disappointed. And Mom...she said ‘No, she wouldn’t.’ I thought I’d misheard things, but...” He shrugged. “Things started to click a little more in my head then.”

Molly sat on the edge of the bed and put her hand on her grandmother’s leg. “Anthony asked Sharon and I to take a DNA test, and compare it to his results. We were a familial match, maternally. He’s our uncle. Or half-uncle, I suppose.”

“I just didn’t want to tell you I knew,” Tony said. “I wasn’t sure until the results came back.”

“Oh, Tony,” Peggy said, tears springing to her eyes, and he moved her hand to caress his cheek. “Howard was so very wrong. I have never been disappointed in you. Ever. I have loved you so much and I am so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said, and she could hear him holding back tears in his voice when he spoke. “I love my mom, and I love you too. You’ve been the voice on my shoulder that kept me going.”

“You’ll all be there for each other, won’t you? The last of my family?” Peggy asked, turning from Tony to Sharon and Molly.

“Of course we will, Nana,” Sharon said, moving next to Tony and leaning over to kiss her forehead. “Carters stick together. We know that now.”

Peggy felt a few tears fall down as she shut her eyes. She knew, then, they weren’t going to open again. Soon she felt another press of lips to her forehead, on the other side, and pressing of lips on her hands, one on each side. If this was to be the end, it was a good end, and she was surrounded by love.

And that was the last thought Peggy Carter ever had, leaving a smile on her lips as she took her last breath.

**\--**

The four of them sat there, silently saying their final good-byes to the woman who had been such a force in their lives. There were nurses outside the door, as they’d been alerted when Peggy died, and Sherlock and Pepper were there as well, waiting in the waiting room, but they all gave the family sitting there some time to grieve. Eventually, Sharon put her arm around Tony’s shoulders and he turned, nestling his face into her blouse for a moment. Wordlessly they got up eventually and left, with Molly behind them, after leaving a comforting hand on Steve’s shoulder for a moment, paired with a gentle squeeze.

He hadn’t let go of her hand, but this time he pressed it to his forehead, shutting his eyes. “I’ll take care of them, Peggy, I promise,” he said quietly, and then he let go as well and left to join the others.


End file.
